The Man Without a Face
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
15
Ratings8
Average rating3.8
This is the chilling account of how a low-level, small-minded KGB operative ascended to the Russian presidency and, in an astonishingly short time, destroyed years of progress and made his country once more a threat to her own people and to the world. Handpicked by the "family" surrounding an ailing and increasingly unpopular Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin seemed like a perfect choice for the oligarchy to shape according to its own designs. Suddenly the boy who had stood in the shadows was a public figure, and his popularity soared. Russia and an infatuated West were determined to see the progressive leader of their dreams, even as he seized control of media, sent political rivals and critics into exile or to the grave, and smashed the country's fragile electoral system, concentrating power in the hands of his cronies. As a journalist living in Moscow, Masha Gessen experienced this history firsthand, and she has drawn on sources no other writer has tapped.--From publisher description.
Reviews with the most likes.
While it's well enough written, it's nothing especially newsworthy. If you somehow thought Putin was an interesting or fair person, you needed to read this book. If you thought he was a thug, then you didn't need a whole book to reaffirm what you thought.
The story of Putin's rise from unknown (perhaps even of unknown parentage) youth in St. Petersburg to leader of Russia includes a diverse cast of characters and quite a bit of luck (both bad and good). I did not have many of the cultural references that would be expected for a well-prepared reader - especially with regard to Russian holidays, politicians, and daily life. The author attempts to explain these without dwelling, but I still needed to look things up. That being said, I could still get the gist of the story (and the many smaller stories within).
Overall, the stories paint a picture of a selfish and spiteful man that manages to put on a mask to the outside world while crushing his countrymen. The book does not claim to be objective, and Masha certainly has personal reasons to not like Putin, the book includes hundreds of footnotes and references to published documents, videos, and books in Russian and English. The book has at times terrified and fascinated me, as I am now inspired to learn more about these events. I'm especially interested to read the book of Putin's former boss in St. Petersburg, Sobchak (A Dozen Knives at my Back) and that of Alan Goldfarb writing about Alexander Litvinenko (Death of a Dissident).
I could recommend this to anyone interested in history or modern civics.
Perhaps the world's most prominent power-oriented politician is President Vladimir Putin of Russia, and The Man Without A Face is Russian writer Masha Gessen's look at how he rose and how he's managed to stay on top. Russian interference with the 2016 presidential election has been and continues to be a very hot topic, so this book got bumped up on my reading list because I wanted some context for what's going on in the world right now. It proved a very timely, very enlightening read.
Those looking for a straightforward biography of Putin will be disappointed. Although the details of Putin's life, such that they are available, are discussed at significant length, the book is just as focused on explaining the Russia in which he came to power and how he's worked to concentrate and hold that power ever since. The relative comfort in which Putin grew up, the disappointment of a boring posting to East Germany while with the KGB, his good fortune in finding himself attached to then-Mayor of St. Petersburg, Anatoly Sobchak, the way in which he was plucked from obscurity to succeed Boris Yeltsin by political handlers overconfident that he would be moldable clay...and his utter ruthlessness in completely destroying potential foes before they were able to gain any real momentum. All of that's there, but Gessen provides important details about Russia's political history to help understand how it was all able to be executed so effectively.
Speaking of executed...Gessen's book doesn't directly accuse Putin of having them carried out, but she draws damning connections between dissident activity that angered him and then sudden, untimely deaths due to very unlikely causes, like radioactive element poisoning. Documentary proof of this and other clandestine, illegal activity very likely doesn't exist or is deeply buried, so she can't present it to her readers. This is not surprising, but I didn't get the sense that she was scare-mongering or making molehills into mountains. It seemed to me like she picked examples of politically motivated scare tactics/violence where the logical chain was clear, and I have to imagine that for every situation she presents, there are several sketchier ones that required larger conclusory leaps that were left untold. If you're interested in Putin, or Russia, or autocrats, I'd definitely recommend this book. It's worth your time.
This got so incredibly good at the end when it became a personal story. The rest of the time I felt like there was a much more complete book to be written by someone else. Probably only after Putin dies and records possibly become more available.
